On one of my blogs a while back, Tristi had made a comment about how she’d noticed a trend, especially in the media, towards belittling men. In another blog, I wondered if she might be on to something –and if maybe I’d been subliminally affected by it and that’s why I was prone to assuming most men were philanderers at heart.
But perhaps this media influence (because, I’ll shamefully admit, I watch way too much TV) might also account for some other thoughts I have about men. One’s I expressed in my “Men: The Weaker Sex?” blog.
Bothered
That blog in particular has been nagging at me. Perhaps because of comments Dale and Jade left. Both defended the men in their lives as (thankfully) not demonstrating any of the traits I’d pointed out about so many men I seem to know.
I think what’s been bothering me so much about that blog is that it was more negative than I would have liked. I didn’t mean it to be taken that way, but it came across as such in the end.
Well, that’s counter to the purpose I set out to accomplish as one of my resolutions this year. I needed to change that. Start looking for and pointing out more positive examples as I had intended. I ended up finding one rather quickly, and in a very unlikely place.
A Positive Example
The other day as I was catching up on DVR recordings, I watched an episode of One Tree Hill. Lucas Scott, one of the main characters (who’s played by Chad Michael Murray of A Cinderella Story fame), travelled to Omaha (which had been the hottest market for his first book) to launch the book tour for his second novel.
One of his good friends, Marvin “Mouth” McFadden (played by Lee Norris), had moved to Omaha when he was offered a dream job as the sportscaster for a local TV station there. When he found out his friend would be in town, he came out to support him.
Turns out he was the only one who did. Omaha was such a bust the rest of Luke’s tour was cancelled.
He was upset, naturally, but Mouth found a way to put it in perspective. During his sportscast that night he spoke of a NFL player (whose name I forgot; I wanted to see if the story was real or not) who had turned down a $68 million contract and quit the NFL to spend more time with his family.
Mouth had at first thought the player was nuts. (An eight on a scale of ten.) But he learned to appreciate the NFL’s player move when he understood what it was like to be separated from the love of his life, Millie.
Lucas caught his broadcast. He called his fiance, Peyton (played by Hilarie Burton) to tell her he’d be coming home instead of going on to Seattle because the tour had been cancelled in light of the publisher already deeming the book a flop.
But he assured her it wasn’t. The book had served a greater purpose, to bring them back together (which it had), and its mission was accomplished.
Then he’s at the airport and Mouth shows up and says, “Wouldn’t you rather drive back to Tree Hill?”
Lucas knew this meant Mouth had decided to give up his dream job in order to be with his dream girl. (Not that they were broken up. It’s just that Millie was in Tree Hill and they were experiencing the unpleasantness of a commuter relationship.)
He put it to Lucas this way: “Which would you rather have? Dream job of dream girl?”
Lucas responded, “Dream girl, definitely.” Mouth nodded enthusiastically.
“That’s what I’ve come to realize.”
Because in the end they knew jobs came and went, but the girls were there for them through thick and thin until the bitter end.
Yes, it’s fiction, but it posed a positive example. Plus, it left me with a warm fuzzy and it’s been a while since I had one of those to share.
Courtney Mroch writes about animals great and small in Pets and the harmony and strife that encompasses married life in Marriage. For a full listing of her articles click here.